Machinery support



MACHINERY SUPPORT Filed June 16, 1965 Sheet FIGI ' INVENTOR JOHN MARTIN BY W, f wg vzzn ATTORNEYS Filed June 16, 1965 March 18, 1969 J. MARTIN 3,433,615

MACHINERY SUPPORT Sheet 2 01'2 INVENTOR JOHN MARTIN ATTORNEYS United States Patent 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sheet glass forming and annealing machine of the so-called vertical draw type is supported by a gimbal mounting adjacent the uppermost portion of the machine. The gimbal mount is supported by a framework which surrounds the machine and extends upwardly from the floor on which the machine base would otherwise rest.

This invention relates to machinery supports and more particularly to a suspended support for glass drawing machines of the vertical draw type.

As it is well known to those skilled in the art, a vertical draw sheet glass forming machine is of the order of 50 feet in height and the weight of the machine is of the order of 70 tons. Enclosed within the outer frame of the machine are a plurality of pairs of rollers (usually 30 or more) which are used to draw the sheet of glass upwardly from a molten bath in order to form it into continous sheets and anneal the sheets which may then be cut off in any desired lengths. Also, as is well known to those skilled in this art, machines of this type operate under extreme conditions of temperature. The lower portions of the machine operate at a very high temperature relative to the upper portions of the machine and therefore there is a temperature gradient from the bottom to the top of the machine.

Present machines of this type are supported at the bottom and they therefore behave in a manner similar to an elongated column which is under compression loading. The lower end of the column is subjected to the most severe compression loading and this same portion of the column is also subjected to the highest temperature. Over a period of time therefore the combined effects of the time temperature and loading result in creep of the metal which is a true plastic deformation thereof. The direction of creep is dictated by a number of stresses, where some are originated by the buckling of the columns, others by eccentric loading, and still others by different cross sectional area of the load carrying members. Any unequal relief of these stresses results in plastic deformation or creep, that tends to misalign the machine, and it is this unequal deformation which the present invention avoids. In the present support of machines of this type from the bottom, the creep of the metal under conditions of time temperature and compression loading result in misalignment of the machine from top to bottom which means that the intersection of the various roll pairs do not lie in a common vertical plane. Other factors which also influence the gradual misalignment of the present machines include settling of the building in which the machine is housed, and settling of the subjacent soil.

It is quite common in this art to realign the many roll pairs as frequently as every week or ten days. The alignment procedure, which is preferably carried out with the aid of optical means such as surveyors transits, telescopes and the like is more easily accomplished with the machine shut down. The expense of shutting down and then starting up, however, is prohibitive and therefore the realigning is generally accomplished while the machine is running.

3,433,615 Patented Mar. 18, 1969 A misalignment of as much as one-quarter inch in the 50-foot height of the machine will render the machine inoperable because the glass will simply not take that much of a bend and will fracture. Preferably, the alignment from top to bottom of the machine should be accurate to the order of one-thousandth of an inch.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a suspension type of support for a vertical draw sheet glass forming machine which is effective to eliminate substantially entirely the need for realigning the position of the various roll pairs.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the attached sheets of drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of a glass machine supported in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of FIGURE 1 with parts of the supporting system broken away;

FIGURE 3 is an exploded perspective view of the bearing portions of the support in accordance with the present invention; and

FIGURE 4 is a view partially in section of the assembled bearing shown in FIGURE 3.

In general, the objects of the present invention are achieved by supporting a vertical draw sheet glass forming machine from its top in such a manner that it is free to swing in two planes at degrees to each other.

Referring now to the drawings for a detailed description of the present invention, a .glass making machine is schematically represented by the rectangular solid identified by the reference numeral 10. At the upper end of the machine, brackets 12 are rigidly attached, two on the front and two on the rear surface. Each bracket includes a vertically arranged jack screw 13 to compensate for machining and assembly errors.

Four columns 14, three of which are shown in FIG- URE 1, extend substantially the full length of the machine from the foundation of the building to a point adjacent the upper portion of the machine. Supported on these four columns are cross members 16 which together with the columns 14 comprise a framework which forms the entire load support for the machine.

The heart of the present invention lies in the mode of supporting the machine at its upper end on the aforesaid framework. Still referring to FIGURE 1, a pair of boxlike structures 18 and 20 completely surround the machine 10. The brackets 12 simply overlie the upper box member 18 and thus the entire weight of the approximately 70 ton machine is transferred through the brackets 12 and the jack screws 13 to the upper box member 18.

The joint between the two box members 18 and between the box member 20 and the general supporting framework is indicated in FIGURES 1 and 2 but the details of this mounting are shown more clearly in FIG- URES 3 and 4. The upper and lower box members 18 and 20 are joined in such manner that they are free to rotate with respect to each other about an axis shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 at 22. The lower box 20, on the other hand, is supported on the underlying framework in such manner that it is free to rotate with respect thereto on an axis 24 which is at right angles to the axis 22.

From a consideration of FIGURES 1 and 2, therefore, it will be apparent that the entire load of the ma chine is borne at four points indicated at 28.

The details of the load bearing members at the points 28 will now be described with reference to FIGURES 3 and 4. It will be understood that while FIGURE 4 shows the load bearing joint between the upper and lower box members, the identical structure occurs between the lower box member 20 and the cross members 16. Such load bearing joint is shown in exploded perspective in FIGURE 3 and includes upper and lower bearing blocks 30 and 32, both of which are rectangular solids and formed of hardened steel. The center member 34 is also formed of hardened steel and instead of being a rectangular solid, it has curved upper and lower surfaces 34a and 34b with equal radii but lying in planes at 90 degrees to one another.

Particularly in those areas which are subject to earthquakes, it is desirable to form a centrally located circular opening through all three of the bearing members in order that they may be aligned on a pin member 36. The elongated blocks 38 shown at the bottom of FIG- URE 3 are useful merely to be tack welded to the frame members as shown in FIGURE 4 so as to positively locate the upper and lower blocks 30 and 32. Preferably, the openings in the upper and middle bearing members are slightly larger than the opening in the lower bearing member in order that the pin 36 may be a tight fit in the lower member 32 but a loose fit in the members 30 and 34.

From the foregoing description, and referring again to FIGURE 1, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the machine is capable of self-alignment about the axes 22 and 24 as indicated in FIGURE 1. By actual test, it has been found that a new machine assembled and supported in the manner taught in the present application has another distinct advantage. Even if, after assembly and suspension, there is still some small degree of misalignment bow due to manufacturing errors of the machine columns between the avrious pairs of rollers from the top of the bottom of the machine, such misalignment has been found to automatically disappear after a relatively short period of time and does not reoccur. It is believed that this advantage stems from the creep of the metal employed in the machine due to the self straightening effect of the pendulum type of support.

In setting the machine up in a support in accordance with the present invention, it is lifted by a crane and positioned so that the under surface of the brackets 12 are spaced slightly above the upper surface of the box 18. The jack screws are then adjusted so that when the machine is lowered, all four jack screws touch the upper surface of the box 18 at the same time in order to have substantially equal load transfer at the four points of contact.

At this point it is well to mention that the box members 18 and 20 are semielastic. By this is meant that they are specifically designed to support the weight of the machine but they nevertheless bend. The net result is that there is substantially less clearance between the ends of the boxes 18 and 20 than there is at the center location of the bearing block structure. This is an important consideration because it permits further selfaligning and force equalizing of the four brackets of the machine and compensates for geometric errors in the construction of the box members themselves.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that there is herein shown and disclosed a new and useful machinery support for glass machines of this particular type. The problem of alignment of these machines is one which extends over a period of more than 50 years and the present invention offers substantially a complete solution.

While a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been herein shown and disclosed, applicant claims the benefit of a full range of equivalents within the scope of the appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. Apparatus for supporting a sheet glass forming machine of the vertical draw type comprising in combination:

(a) said machine;

4 (b) a supporting framework external to said machine, extending vertically upwardly from the foundation level of a building in which said machine is housed and terminating at a point near the upper end of said machine in a pair of horizontal members on opposite sides of the machine; and (c) means including a pair of frame members spaced from each other and interposed between the upper portion of said machine and said horizontal members supporting said machine for rotation about a pair of mutually perpendicular horizontal axes, each axis passing substantially through the center of a major dimension of said machine. 2. Apparatus for supporting a sheet glass forming 0 machine of the vertical draw type comprising in combination:

(1) said machine;

(2) a framework surrounding said machine, spaced outwardly therefrom and extending from the foundation level of a building in which said machine is housed and terminating at a point near the upper end of said machine in a pair of load supporting members located on opposite sides of said machine and having load supporting surfaces lying in substantially the same horizontal plane;

(3) outwardly extending brackets rigidly secured to the outer surface of said machine in a common plane adjacent the upper end of said machine.

(4) first and second box frames surrounding said machine and positioned between said brackets and said load supporting surfaces;

(5) a first pair of bearing members positioned between each of said load bearing surfaces and said first box frame permitting said first frame to rotate with respect to said load bearing surfaces on a first axis joining said bearings;

(6) and a second pair of bearing members positioned between said first and second frame members on opposite sides of said machine permitting said second frame to rotate with respect to said first frame on an axis joining said second pair of bearing members and positioned at with respect to said first axis; whereby said machine is suspended in substantially pendulum fashion.

3. Apparatus as defined by claim 2 in which each of said bearing members comprises upper and lower plane surface blocks and an intermediate block having upper and lower cylindrical surfaces at right angles to each other.

4. Apparatus as defined by claim 3 in which each of said blocks includes a central aperture and in which said blocks are assembled on a common pin passing through said apertures.

5. Apparatus as defined by claim 2 including a jack screw in each of said brackets forming the sole load transfer means between said machine and said second box frame.

6. Apparatus as defined by claim 2 in which at least said second box frame is semi-elastic.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,018,643 2/1912 Thornburg 65-344 XR 1,645,054 10/1927 Howard 65--193 XR 1,882,262 10/1932 Spinasse 65193 XR 1,901,896 3/1933 Clark 65344 DONALD H. SYLVESTER, Primary Examiner.

FRANK W. MIGA, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 65-346, 347, 375 

